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Story:Star Trek: Conflict/Infection, Pt. I
The saga of the rage virus comes to a conclusion. Summary Chapter One The is en route to Earth, with its prisoner safely in custody. Riker is in conversation with Dr. Shenti. According to his report, the prisoner has become completely isolative, refusing food, drink and doesn't even look anyone in the eye. Riker says that all belligerents are the same: sociopathic killers who just hate the world. He dismisses this, since he has better things to do with his time. He contacts Starfleet Command and informs them that he has captured Edward Shield. Admiral Michaels and Captain Halliwell urge Captain Riker to kill Shield on the spot, since the universe is better off without "the likes of his kind" around. However, Picard says that they should at least give him a fair trial. The other two say that it would be a formality, since they are not bound by law to regard any favors with those condemned under Order 865. However, despite this unfortunate truth, Picard says that, despite his atrocities and ignorance's, Edward Shield is still a human and should have all the rights of one until proven guilty. Chapter Two Meanwhile, Lianna Young secretly grieves over the apparent loss of Edward Shield. She knows all too well what lies within Order 865, that there is no hope for him. What's more, with Starfleet on their way shortly, all seems to be lost. The New Insurrection may die here. Meanwhile, Nox is busy doing the one thing that takes him away from the "Civilian Crew": working at Tactical. Using long-range subspace scans, he sweeps the sector, looking for a trace of the incoming vessels. Aside from the ''Enterprise''-C, the ''Admonitor'' and the warp-trail of the , there are no other traces of incoming or outgoing ships. He reveals this information to the captain, who is both pleased and bemused. Pleased that they have a chance of hope, and bemused that, for all the talk about their evolved sensibility, humans are still capable of lying. She is prepared to make a journey to save him, but K'hallA is not. She tells Young that a true warrior would not have allowed himself to be captured, and therefore he should kill himself to save what honor he has left. Young chides K'hallA for dishonorably leaving her husband when help is needed the most. She remarks by saying that what she suggests is "not the Klingon way". Fed up, Young reminds K'hallA that he is NOT a Klingon, no matter how much she wants him to be one: furthermore, she says that though she may be ignorant to Klingon mating rituals, she shares some of her own beliefs on human relationships... :I might not known expletive about Klingon mating rituals, but I know a thing or two about human relationships, and they're a lot more profound than for what your species gives them credit. Human marriages are about honor: honoring the wishes of your partner to give up what you once loved, honoring their dignity by refraining from anything they might find dishonorable. What he did for his best friend - what you admired in him - was because of honor. He has shown you and your people more respect than I feel you deserve, and when he needs our help, you turn your back on him? Coward! She leaves, just as K'hallA, in self-righteous anger, tries to attack her for calling her a coward. As she begins to mull over what Lianna Young just said, she realizes the truth in her words. She breaks down in tears, and says a prayer to Kahless to give her the strength and wisdom to honor his name, as well as his protection toward the one she loves. Chapter Three On the , Riker's wife, Deanna Troi is meeting with Dr. Shenti-Ree. He says that he has detected some alarming physiological changes in the prisoner, but is unable to discern what they are because, recently, he has become increasingly moody and isolative. Once, Dr. Shenti states, he tried to force an examination, but the prisoner threw him out of the room: a rather impossible thing, he added, for a Human to do to a Pahkwa-thanh. The doctor asks if she, as ship's Counselor, could try to figure out what is wrong with him. Deanna agrees and meets with Edward Shield later, attempting at first to talk to him. He doesn't answer any of her questions or even look in her direction, despite the fact that she is being friendly and courteous towards him (something none of the 25th century Starfleet officers have been). When she asks if there is anything she can do to help him, he asks if she can get the voices out of his head. She cannot understand what he is saying, and more importantly, cannot sense his feeling with her Betazoid empathic powers. A voice, coming from Shield's mouth but in a tone and pitch completely different than his own, tells her to get out of "my" mind, after which Shield attacks her in a furious rage. It takes ten security guards to wrest him off her and secure him. He is shackled and hand-cuffed to a chair, with reinforced duranium hand-cuffs and shackles on his wrists and ankles, as well as strapped down to the chair with nine metal straps (each equipped with dozens of electric shock mechanisms to respond to even the slightest resistance) and surrounded by a high-density force field both around his chair and around the door. Lieutenant Commander Keru assures both Counselor Troi and Captain Riker that he is completely secure with this containment. Chapter Four On the , Lianna Young is ready to go after the without support of the ''Enterprise''-C. Just as she is ready to order the ship to go to warp, K'hallA appears onscreen and asks if she can tag along, saying that, even in Klingon tradition, Kahless went to save his falsely dishonored brother from Gre'thor, and for her to do any less would be a shame on the name of Klingon. Lianna Young smiles and orders the helm to lay in a course following the ''Titan'' s warp trail. At a command from both of them, the two ships go to warp. Meanwhile, on the ''Titan'', Deanna Troi cannot go to sleep. Riker asks her what the problem is, and she expresses her concerns for Edward Shield. Riker says that her official report - stating that Shield had AvPD - should have concluded the matter, but she feels that he sincerely wants help, but that there is something else interfering with his mind that she needs to discover before he can be submitted for trial. She insists that it might answer some questions regarding his anti-Federation behavior. However, as Riker reminds her, she is only half-Betazoid and therefore incapable of reading minds, and if they could, there are certain laws regarding what is acceptable mental behavior. He goes back to sleep, saying that they'll worry about it in the morning. But she doesn't go to sleep. She secretly contacts Lieutenant Tuvok and requests that he join her in Sick Bay. Chapter Five Later in Sick Bay, Deanna Troi asks Tuvok if he can perform a mind-meld on her while she attempts to empathically link to Edward Shield. Her idea is that, because Vulcans have great mental capacity, allowing him to mind-meld with her could give her the ability to read his mind like a pure Betazoid. Tuvok asks that he not be chosen, since mind-melding is a very personal issue and, from personal experience, it can also open up the mind to any kind of affect or influence. Troi says that this is vital to saving someone's life. Tuvok then asks if, it it is vital, why shouldn't she allow him to perform a mind-meld alone and therefore not put her at risk. She replies by saying that, as a Vulcan, he can only read logic and what is immediately discernible and definitive. However, as a Betazoid, she can feel emotion and purpose. Combining her powers with his, she should be able to read exactly what Edward Shield is thinking and discern his motives and emotional reasoning's behind his actions. An hour later, Troi and Tuvok meet again in the Brig, both of them prepared for the awful task ahead of them. After both force fields are lowered, Deanna Troi, despite protests from Shield (who cannot move away because the binders shock him if he moves), places her hands on his temples while Tuvok, standing behind her, places his fingers along the katra points on her face and initiates the mind-meld. Deanna implores Shield to open to her influences, since she only wishes to help. She asks him to open his mind to her suggestions, that she might be able to help him. A flood of images follow. A hateful, abusive father, a sad, broken mother, the hand that took them away from him, the faces he believes have long since ceased to be, an indifferent, cold-hearted cynical sexist, a liar and a betrayer who bares a striking similarity to Counselor Troi, a merciless bar against which he can never measure, a face of hatred even unto death, a holier-than-thou tormentor, a murderous wretch hungry for blood, a pit of lust more powerful than the grave, a face that will never die and a voice telling him always that he will never be strong enough, good enough, worth anything: a tormentor greater than the Devil herself... Outside of Edward Shield's twisted mind, he begins breathing heavily. He begs her to get out of his mind, but she continues. She says that she's opened his mind fully to hers, but begins crying out that she sees shocking, disturbing, maddening images and can't let go. Edward Shield tells her to get out again, but she cannot. All hell breaks lose... Shield begins mutating into some dark, hideous thing of anger, hatred, aggression and feral-strength. It breaks free from the shock-bands and throws Deanna Troi and Tuvok away from it before breaking through the Brig containment field. Unabated even by the ship's doors, the Monster-Shield gallops through the ship, making havoc as it does. The ''Titan'' goes to red alert. Riker wakes up, and gets an update from Commander Vale. An unidentified monster is wreaking havoc through the ship. He sends security teams to stop it, and then realizes that Deanna was not in their bed when he left his room just then. The computer says that she is in the Brig. He makes his way down there, to find her wounded but otherwise still alive, with Tuvok, who has withstood only a few light injuries. She tells him how Edward Shield transformed into a monster after subjected to her mind-read, which she says is her fault. Riker says that she cannot be held responsible, since she had no idea this would happen. A report from one of the security teams says that the others have all been either killed or incapacitated by the "black juggernaut". Riker asks what exactly they're talking about, until he sees Monster-Shield at the other end of the hallway, seething with rage, which Deanna Troi says was what Edward Shield turned into. The monster runs at Riker full-force. Riker takes out his phaser and fires at it on stun and kill setting one, both of which do no damage at all. Completely heedless, Monster-Shield runs Riker down and continues rampaging through the ship, completely unstoppable. Moments later, a hull-breach is detected when the monster breaks through the hull and careens toward the planet they are orbiting: Beta III. Riker comments on how stupid the creature was, since it has apparently killed itself by leaping out into the vacuum of space. However, a quick scan reveals that the creature is still alive even in the vacuum of space. Riker says that it won't be for long, as it will incinerate in Beta III's atmosphere. Once again, he is proven wrong as the creature passes through the atmosphere without being incinerated and, according to scans, crashes to the planet in a fall that would kill anyone, but it just gets up and runs wild. Riker wonders what kind of nightmare they have unleashed on the universe... TO BE CONTINUED... Category:Story Arc: Alien Rage Virus Category:Star Trek: Conflict Episodes